Vehicle manufacturers strive to provide quick and easy access to passenger and storage compartments of a vehicle to facilitate entry and use of the vehicle. For example, minivans and sport-utility vehicles typically include a powered, rear-closure panel that may be moved between a closed state and an open state by depressing a button located either within the vehicle or on a key fob. Similarly, vans and minivans often incorporate one or more sliding doors that likewise may be operated between an open state and a closed state by depressing a button located within a passenger compartment of the vehicle or on a key fob.
Opening a rear-closure panel or a side door simply by depressing a button located within the passenger compartment allows for easy and quick access to the passenger compartment and/or storage compartment of the vehicle. Allowing such operation of a rear-closure panel and/or sliding-side door remotely via a key fob further increases the utility of such powered, rear-closure panels and sliding-side doors, as vehicle occupants can remotely control access to a passenger compartment and/or storage compartment of the vehicle.
Conventional sliding-side door assemblies typically include a side door slidably supported relative to a vehicle by three discrete tracks. For example, a minivan may incorporate a first track located proximate to a floor pan of the vehicle, a second track located proximate to a roof panel of the vehicle, and a third track located between the first track and the second track and proximate to and behind a C-pillar of the vehicle. The first track, second track, and third track cooperate to control movement of the sliding-side door between a closed state and an open state and likewise cooperate to support the door relative to the vehicle. Specifically, each of the first track, the second track, and the third track receives a series of rollers associated with the sliding door that permit the door to translate relative to the vehicle. Further, the first track, the second track, and the third track each cooperate to support the overall weight of the sliding door and maintain the stability of the door throughout the range-of-motion of the door when moving between the closed state and the open state.
While conventional sliding-side door assemblies adequately guide and support sliding doors relative to a vehicle, conventional sliding-side door assemblies require three tracks to properly support, position, and maintain the stability of the sliding-side door relative to the vehicle when moving between an open state and a closed state. Further, sliding-side doors may typically only be used in a vehicle having a substantially flat or uniform side panel that can efficiently accommodate the length of each track and can permit clearance of the sliding-side door when moving from a closed state to an open state. As such, sliding-side doors are typically reserved for vans and minivans that have a substantially flat, elongated side panel and cannot be used with vehicles having a somewhat short and uneven side panel such as a sedan, sport-utility vehicle, or truck, as such vehicles cannot properly accommodate the requisite length of a track associated with a conventional sliding-side door assembly.